From the earliest days in the development of the handgun holster, the need has been recognized for the holster to include a retention component to provide the user with some assurance that the handgun will not fall out, be dislodged or be subject to unauthorized removal. Classically, a holster flap or strap has acted as such a primary restraint. Both of these types have proved effective.
It has since been recognized that supplementary restraints are desirable. One of the earliest important supplementary restraint, in addition to a strap or flap, appeared in U.S. Pat. No. 3,630,420 to John E. Bianchi on Dec. 28, 1971, in which the handgun is restricted from withdrawal by a pocket which engages the handgun cylinder and a spring which together restrain the handgun from being drawn upward and allow drawing of the handgun only through a forward slot in the holster body.
For semi-automatic weapons, which have no cylinder, a variety of secondary restraints have been utilized. The most common approach has been to engage the trigger guard when the handgun is in place in the holster to be drawn only, by disengaging a trigger guard release. Examples of such secondary restraints are illustrated in the U.S. Patents:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,256,243 Bianchi et al. Mar. 17, 1981
U.S. Pat. No. 4,277,007 Bianchi et al. Jul. 7, 1981
U.S. Pat. No. 5,129,562 J. E. Bianchi Jul. 14, 1992
U.S. Pat. No. 5,199,620 Beletsky April 1993
U.S. Pat. No. 5,246,153 Beletsky September 1993
U.S. Pat. No. 6,085,951 R. Beletsky et al. Jul. 11, 2000
These patents illustrate the intense efforts which have gone into development of secondary trigger guard-type restraints, yet continuing improvements are underway.
Faced with this state of the art, we have produced some simple, yet effective, secondary retention device holster designs providing automatic engagement upon holstering the handgun, one employing a vertical thumb release and others using a horizontal finger release for withdrawal of the handgun.
In the first embodiment, a spring loaded pivoted lever within an inboard housing is employed as the secondary restraint. The lever is pivoted about a generally horizontal shaft or pin at approximately the lever""s midpoint constituting a first class type lever. A concealed spring, preferably a coil spring, is located within the inboard portion of the holster body and biases the lower trigger guard engaging portion of the lever into a restraining position within the trigger guard of the handgun when it is in holstered position.
The secondary retention device of this invention is preferably employed in a thumb break-type holster and is located below the thumb break. This allows a continuing motion of the thumb downward to first disengage the primary retention strap at the thumb break and then to continue downward to engage the operating end of the secondary retention device, press it inward, releasing the trigger guard and allowing smooth drawing of the handgun by an upward arm and hand movement.
In an alternate embodiment, a two-lever system is used. The two levers reside in the inboard housing. These horizontal levers are fulcrumed with vertical pins. The user applies finger pressure to the end of a first lever, which pivots about a first fulcrum and contacting a second lever, which rotates about a second fulcrum. The second lever houses a compression coil spring, which pushes the second lever outward to catch the gun""s trigger guard. As the first lever rotates the second lever, the projection that engages the trigger guard rotates inward. With this projection rotated inward, the user may withdraw the gun upwardly. When the user releases the first lever, the spring causes the levers to return to their original rested position. When the user returns the gun to the holster, the levers automatically move to catch the trigger guard when it is lowered to its home position.
The boss or projection includes a tapered outer edge to allow the trigger guard to displace the lever out of the way upon holstering a handgun and a planar inner edge for blocking withdrawal of the handgun unless the lever is depressed. The first lever is easily actuated by movement of the middle finger of the hand during the grasping of the handgun grip. If the holster is of the thumb break type, the actuation of the trigger guard retention release is nearly simultaneous with the thumb release of the thumbneck strap.
An additional embodiment utilizes a finger-operated latching lever positioned on the outside of the holster. The accessible surface of the lever is, or may be, made smoothly flush with the outside surface of the holster body, which tends to minimize the chance of inadvertent or unauthorized operation of the latching lever.
All of these embodiments can provide simple, effective, secondary retention features to most belt worn holsters and possibly other types of holsters, as well.